Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 100, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1915 — Possibilities of the Attic [ARTICLE]

Possibilities of the Attic

The attic has an atmosphere that not only rouses In the housekeeper a desire for a clearing up, but also an ambitious wish to make a habitable room out of its mustiness. The one thing that helps most in encouraging the desize for change is the view from its windows, which is always interesting whether of roofs, orchard or park. Then, too, there are often quaint npgiAa and odd corners-that no woman with an eye for the picturesque can resist, says a New York Press writer. If the family junk with which the place is littered is too unwleldly to be tucked Into nooks and comers in other parts of the house it can be banished to a cellar bin and safely ignored. With attractive windows and uncluttered space, a room shapes itself. Ad attic room never goes begging. It is usually the college boy who grabs It for a den or It may be some daughter. 1 An attic den that is the pride and joy of the boy looks out on to the roofs of opposite houses. On the window sill —and the window hasn’t the shred of a shade or curtain —are some potted plants, for, of course, a boy likes plants; he likes all growing things. Over the window from a ring hangs a punching bag. On the wall are a couple of tennis rackets and beside the window is a carpenter’s bench fitted completely and neatly with the necessary tools. An ideal place to potter and drill. A girl’6 room is charming with dark stained floor, white woodwork and mission furniture. The windows are curtained in muslin with side drops of linen embroidered with raffia in a simple but effective design. A single book shelf fills the comer between the windows and underneath is the couch, Its cover embroidered like the curtains and with plenty of pretty cushions. At its head stands a small round table holding a most comfortable looking reading lamp. In the comet opposite the couch is an old model table settee and next it is a writing desk with a Remsen burner attached to the wall. Beyond the desk is the dressing table with a jolly big paper basket beside it. Two rooms splendidly interesting in their expression of fadividual taste are well worth describing. One is simplicity itself, with a fine dignity in the placing of the few pictures and in the long lines of the well filled bookcase that stretches between two windows. It seems just the room to drop into, and, after fussing a bit among the books, to settle down in for a serenely quiet read with no sound but the flutter of a turning page. The other room is a stimulating contrast. Over the fireplace are books and interestingly effective photographs of people. A window couch has plenty of light. The designs of the wall paper and the rug before the fireplace are full of character. These are but a few pictures to show into what the attic can be made. In a new house the problem of planning a room is simple, but where the house is an old one, with a genuine family garret, It takes on the attributes of a cam;, paign. Things must be first sorted and either stored or passed to cousin or aunt, who often becomes inspired to do likewise and sends things back in exchange. Great movings of clumsy objects go up stairs and down before the desired result is reached. But the result is worth all the fuss and worry. A certain feeling of having conquered a new problem comes to the worker and in the pride taken In having evolved a room from chaos all efforts are forgotten. ——• ——“- ■ -‘5